The Art of Magic
by Queen SD
Summary: By joining SOLDIER she didn't just learn how to fight; she learnt about friendship, trust, pain and love. She hadn't been bothered to think things through much. It was Rea's incredible luck—or unluckiness—that got her tangled up in the whole situation...
1. Chapter 1

- I don't own the characters (except Rea) etc.

**The Art of Magic**

**Chapter 1**

Her first attempt didn't go too well. She hadn't been bothered to think things through much. Then again, what fun would it be, if everything happened according to plan? It was Rea's incredible luck—or unluckiness—that got her tangled up in the whole situation.

"Good morning, how may I help you?" The woman behind the desk asked politely and smiled, just as her job required.

"I would like to join SOLDIER," replied Rea, as if it were the simplest of things.

"Shouldn't you be discussing this with your director?" The smile remained.

"Oh... I'm not a member of the infantry. In fact I've never worked for Shinra before. I just want to join SOLDIER. If I can't be directly recruited as 2nd, I will even settle for 3rd class."

The secretary raised her eyebrows and tried to hold back a laugh. "Well it isn't my place to discuss such matters; you should go to the 8th floor: SOLDIER administration and recruitment. They should be able to... assist you."

"Thanks..." muttered Rea as she turned away and scanned the area for the elevator. She spotted it just as it was about to leave and dashed towards it, hoping to catch it before the doors closed. "Hold it!" She yelled at the man who stood inside, getting strange looks from the people around her. The man quickly put his arm in front of the doors to prevent them from closing.

"There you go!" He smiled as Rea made it in. The woman returned the smile and nodded as thanks. "So which floor?"

"8th floor," she announced and pushed the button herself.

"SOLDIER recruitment?" The man raised an eyebrow—the woman standing before him was barely 1.55 meters tall (5'1'') and looked as if she would break if he were to poke her. "Aren't you a bit... well I mean... you don't _look_ like someone who'd join SOLDIER..."

"How would _you_ know?" Rea snapped at him. The nerve of some people! How she hated it when they judged her by her looks!

"I didn't mean to offend you. It's just that I am in SOLDIER so I would know..."

"You're in—" but before Rea could finish her sentence the beeping indicating that the elevator had reached the 8th flood sounded and the doors opened.

"SOLDIER 2nd class, Kunsel," and he gave her the official SOLDIER greeting. "A pleasure meeting you Miss..."

"Rea... Rea Ampere." With that she walked out of the elevator and turned to see Kunsel press the button to floor 49. "I'll get to go to that floor soon enough," she mumbled stubbornly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Look Miss Ampere, as I said we are very strict when it comes to recruiting SOLDIER members. Not just anyone can do it," the man was getting impatient; he had other matters to attend to.

"But you haven't even given me a chance to prove myself!" Rea frowned; she badly wanted to kick the tall, bulky man in the groin, but restrained herself.

"What kind of proof would I need? Have you had military training? Ever?"

"Well no but that's not necessary..."

"Are you a good athlete? Can you skilfully use a gun or a sword?"

"Define 'skilfully'..."

The man let out a groan and threw his hands up in the air. "Then what the hell are you doing here?"

"I can cast spells. I'm very good when it comes to that."

"Even so, no one has an infinite amount of materia. It takes much more to join SOLDIER. Now if you'll excuse me..." his hand pointed towards the elevator.

Rea knitted her eyebrows and stomped out of the room. Now what on Gaia was she supposed to do? She would have to call her sister and tell her they would have to find another way into Shinra. Perhaps she could apply for the Turks? Bah, like that would ever happen! She was not nearly as delicate, not to mention that if given a gun, she was most likely to accidentally shoot herself. No, she would have to join the infantry and fight her way up from there... But that would take ages!

Letting out a heavy sigh, Rea pulled her hood up and walked out of Shinra's entrance. There were voices near her, but she paid little attention to them, her gaze fixed on her feet.

"You should have seen me!" An excited male voice spoke. "There were like 10 soldiers and I was like this and this and THIS!" Still Rea kept walking, absorbed in her thoughts. The man continued, "And when only 2 were left I attacked like THAT and TH—"

"OUCH! HEY WATCH IT ASS HOLE!" Stunned the man pulled his sword back and realised that in his excitement, he had hit someone behind him.

"Sorry sir! But you should be more careful—"

"I should be more careful? What about YOU? And who are you calling sir?" Having said that, the person pulled his hood back, revealing that he was in fact a woman.

"Whoa! A girl! You know, you have a very deep voice for someone so petite..." The dark-haired man grinned, obviously amused by the young woman's outburst.

"I KNOW! And I don't need to be reminded about it by a jerk like you!" Rea boiled with anger as she yelled, she couldn't think clearly, all the anger and frustration that she felt was pouring out.

"She's a feisty one, isn't she?" The man laughed. That earned him a painful slap on the right cheek. "What the HELL bitch!" He tried to grab her, but Rea was quick; she pushed his hand away and jumped back, pulling a small knife from her belt.

Rea was taking things too far, she knew. Alas, the rage inside her needed out—she had to fight, to let everything out.

"Don't be silly, put that away, you'll get hurt." His voice was so degrading, Rea almost charged at him right then.

"Why, you scared?" Snorted the woman.

"Of YOU? I'll show you!" The man reached for his sword—Rea had hit a soft spot—but was stopped by his friend.

"You're not seriously going to fight her, are you? I mean look at her!" And he pointed at the very flustered woman.

"Oh I understand if you want to back away. I wouldn't want to lose to a short lady either if I were you," Rea flashed him a wicked grin. That did it.

"It won't take long... I'll go easy on her," he reassured his friend and pulled out his sword, which was much bigger than Rea's little knife.

"Bring it on," she grinned and reached for her materia.

The man made the first move; he charged at her with his sword up and Rea only managed to roll away at the last minute, getting a small cut on her left arm. Conjuring the power of the lifestream she let it flow through her knife, transforming it into a much longer mako blade. The next time the man swung at her she was able to counter his blow and, taking advantage of his surprise at her new weapon, she cast Blizzard at him. While he managed to deflect some of the ice with his sword, the force of the spell threw the man back. He was getting angry.

Rea had missed the adrenaline—it had been a while since her last fight. Her mako-sword was powerful, though she lacked the skills to use it properly, so she relied on it only for defence against her opponent's blade. The man was quick and very well trained, not to mention much bigger and stronger than her. Much to her dismay, Rea found herself struggling after the first 10 minutes.

"Think... think fast..." she was whispering to herself. "Fire... now Blizzard! Thunder and... ACK! Dammit..." He had landed another blow on her.

"What's the matter girl? Wanna give up?" Mocked her opponent.

"No even close," she spat and cast another Fire spell at him. That, however, was simply the distraction she needed.

_Focus... focus... I need Gravity... _It was by far her favourite spell and she had a unique was of using it. Clearing her mind she brought up the materia and conjured up the power of the lifestream. As she aimed at the man, her arm extended toward him, she could see him rush at her. But he never reached Rea. An invisible power had pushed him back and slammed him against the wall behind. The woman had manipulated Gravity in such a way that it had granted her the power of telepathy.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!" Enraged the man got back up on his feet and reached for his own materia.

"NO!" His friend shouted. "We're not suppose to—" but before he could utter another word, the man had cast the spell.

"FIRAGA!" He roared as a blast of fire exploded from his materia, directed straight at Rea.

It was a last minute resort. Rea definitely hadn't planned for things to go that far. There was no time to reach for a protection materia and since she wasn't too fond of getting one hell of a burn, she did the only thing she could—conjured the lifestream directly.

There was a bright light and for a moment the only thing she could see was the vibrant orange of the flames. Some screams were heard, but it was impossible to see from whom they came from. Then the flames were gone and Rea found herself lying on the ground, not a single burn on her body.

"What the..." the man she had been fighting came to his senses. "What have I done...? Shit..."

"That's some powerful materia you got there..." muttered Rea as she tried to get up.

"Are... are you okay? I didn't... I w-wasn't thinking... I... I..." stuttered the man, but then his eyes widened as he saw the woman stand. "How did you... I didn't see you use any materia... and even if you did..."

"Yes I did. You just didn't see me," Rea tried to brush the matter off.

"But that was Firaga..."

"So be glad I am not reporting you already!" Once again Rea raised her voice.

"Ms. Ampere?" Someone called from behind. It was a man with shoulder-length blond hair and a pair of glasses that gave him a serious look.

"That's me," the woman walked steadily toward him.

"I would like a word with you." He spoke more quietly when she was close enough to hear him. "In private."

"Who are you?" Rea eyed him suspiciously.

"Lazard Deusericus, director of SOLDIER."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Well I'll be damned to hell!" Exclaimed Kunsel as the elevator door opened and out came Rea, dressed in the blue uniform of SOLDIER 3rd class. "Who did you have to sleep with?"

"HEY! This is the girl I was telling you about, the one Luxiere got in a fight with! The redhead with the hot temper!" The man next to Kunsel said, his eyes gone wide. Rea recognised him—he was a friend of the guy she had fought, the one who had tried to stop him.

"No way! Hah, Rea I heard you kicked some ass!" While the man grinned, the woman didn't share his amusement.

"Hardly," she said dryly.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Wondered the other man, perplexed.

"Hardly," again her voice was dry, but this time with a hint of humour.

"We met in the elevator not too long ago," explained Kunsel to his friend. "She had claimed that she would join SOLDIER and I—being the fool that I am—hadn't believed her. So there you have it, SOLDIER 3rd class Rea Ampere!"

"Nice to meet you properly," the man formed a lop-sided grin. "And sorry about Luxiere, he has temper issues. I'm Zack by the way, Zack Fair."

"It's alright, turns out our little fight was the reason I got into SOLDIER!" Rea shook the man's hand and she could tell just from his strong handshake that he was a warm, trustworthy person.

Since she didn't feel like talking, not to mention she had to make an important phone call, Rea excused herself and made her way to the lobby. Pulling out her mobile phone from her pocket she dialled her sister's number.

"Hey Rene! Guess what? I'm in SOLDIER!"

"AWESOOOOME!" She had to pull the phone away from her ear so she wouldn't go deaf by her sister's cry. "I can't believe you actually made it!"

"It was a close one! But I got really lucky and now I'm SOLDIER 3rd class! I am in the lobby now..." she added, indicating that she couldn't say much in case someone was listening to their conversation.

"Well congratulation! What are you going to do now?"

"They say they need to run some tests on me, just in case," the woman shrugged, even though her sister couldn't see her.

"I don't like the sound of that Rea. Remember what mum... Look, just be careful, okay?" There was nothing she could say at that moment—they would have to wait for a better time to talk, not to mention a better place.

"I'll be fine. Don't you worry about me. Oh, gotta go, they're coming for me..." Down the corridor she could make out Director Lazard, followed by a man dressed in a lab-coat. He had messy grey hair, tied back in a ponytail, and a hard look on his face.

"M'kay. Take care sis."

"You too! Bye..." As she put her phone back in her pocket, Rea greeted the two men.

The one in the lab coat, as she found out, was called Hojo and he would be the one supervising her tests. She was told that there was no time to waste and that they would have to begin immediately. There was no reason to argue, after all she didn't want to lose her newly acquired place in SOLDIER, so with a nod Rea followed the scientist. There was no turning back now.


End file.
